COMPARE UCLA MFE vs Boston University MSMFT

[Sharon Yik]

Hi everyone,

I recently got off from WL of Boston University and only have a week to make the decision. Both programs are under business school and have a similar tuition fee.

The placement stats seems to be better for MSMF (though not specify how many months after graduation) and Boston is closer to New York, but I heard that the courses at BU are very theoretical and hard to pursue a satisfied GPA. The courses sound solid with more concentration on math.

UCLA offers more finance courses and has only a few programming experiences. There's no python courses but mainly uses R. One thing I like about UCLA is its applied finance project which may give us more industrial experiences before we go to full-time jobs.

I hope to find a full-time job in the US after graduation. Any idea would be helpful! Thank you.

 

[StudentA]

Greetings all, I am trying to choose between UCLA and BU and could use some insight.

 

[hridaypurohit]

I think a better choice could be given if you provide your background, goals,etc.

 

[StudentA]

I think a better choice could be given if you provide your background, goals,etc.

Sure, thanks.

I am an Actuarial Sciences student from Latin America, 4 years of experience in strategy consulting, aiming to shift into quantitative research, portfolio management, risk management roles. Plan B is data science.

To complement my formation at consulting, I believe it is better for me to pursue the program with the higher technical demand within its coursework.

Regards

 

[hridaypurohit]

I do not know a lot about UCLA to be honest. Hence I would not be the best judge to compare both the courses.
But, I have been admitted to BU and have done significant research regarding the course. My sole goal has always been to enter the domain of Financial Technology, so after a good look at the coursework at BU, I would say that it does contain a good set of courses that enhance your technical skillsets.
Courses like advanced programming, advanced ML, algorithmic trading, data analysis, and financial econometrics; are a few of the courses that will boost your technical knowledge.
Last but not the least, the Graduate Certificate in Adv Financial Technology is something amazing that BU offers, it does teach you a great set of technical subjects, at the same time lets you pursue a course from a set of schools in BU(mentioned in the excel sheet).
Talking about your plans A and B. Looking at the placement statistics, Boston is a Financial and a FinTech hub, so getting into the roles your mention would be possible. At the same time since it's a Fintech hub, it is very much possible to get into the field of data science as well.

I have also attached a file of the curriculum at BU, with the different concentrations that they offer.

I hope I could be of some help

Regards

 

[lolalin]

As a disclaimer, I did not apply to UCLA's MFE, but I did do some reading on the program. I did apply to BU's program and was accepted. Though I already declined their offer.

I'm going to have to give my vote to BU this time. First of all, UCLA's QN rankings is dropping year over year and their 3 - month post graduation employment rate is kinda bad and BU's is significantly better (if BU's is to be believed.) A cursory search on linkedin also tells me that not many of them work in quant finance. Furthermore, the curriculum doesn't excite me as they don't seem rigorous enough. On the other hand, BU's program has a Research track which seems really mathematical and rigorous.

I don't know if you care about this, but, Steven Kou, an ex-Columbia IEOR professor who is apparently a legend in the Q-Finance world now teaches at BU.

 

[Abjure]

@lolalin Which program will you be joining, having rejected BU MSMF? Also, is there any particular reason you have turned them down?

Cheers!

 

[lolalin]

@lolalin Which program will you be joining, having rejected BU MSMF? Also, is there any particular reason you have turned them down?

Cheers!

I still haven't decided yet. However, I turned them down mainly due to concerns with brand.

 

[theluckydonuts]

Looking for some advice, received offer from UCLA MFE and BU MSMFT, trying to decide between the two.